Chapter 15 : Level 10 Beast
Jackal the Hunter had a solemn final moment.
"I can now die in peace," he whispered with a sigh, his lips curving faintly as though he had finally found release.
His body began to glow.
Slowly, his figure scattered into countless white motes of light, fading away into nothingness as if returning to the system that governed this world.
Before this happened, however, Jackal had entrusted Axton with the rewards of completing the quest to slay the Great Wolf.
Among them was a tightly sealed parcel.
Now, with the forest quiet around him, Axton carefully unwrapped it.
Inside was a folded letter and a red-coloured beast tag that pulsed faintly, almost alive.
He unfolded the letter and began to read.
"To the one who receives this…
Head west of my shack. Around forty kilometers from there lies an egg.
The beast tag in this parcel can be used to contract the egg, nurturing it until it matures into your beast.
Treat it well, and it will follow you to death and beyond."
Axton let out a long breath, lowering the paper.
"An egg?"
He stared at the beast tag, weighing it in his palm.
Its red glow was ominous, as though it had been soaked in blood.
Uncertainty churned inside him.
What kind of egg could it be?
Would it be easy to retrieve?
Or would it be more difficult than the wolf pack and their alpha?
Questions stacked in his head like bricks, heavy and suffocating.
He couldn't predict what awaited him.
But the system had marked it as a Grade 4 to 5 beast egg.
That alone was terrifying!
Axton clicked his tongue and shoved the letter back into his inventory. "Forget it. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. For now, I need to level up."
If he could strengthen himself first, his confidence would rise so that facing whatever guarded that egg wouldn't feel like walking blindly into hell.
******
Much to his disappointment, things did not go the way Axton expected.
He returned to the forest where he had fought the wolf pack, hoping to encounter another horde.
Instead, he only ran into lone stragglers.
One wolf. Two wolves. Sometimes three at best.
They fell easily under his blade.
Too easily.
The experience points trickled in like drops of water from a broken tap.
Pathetic!
Axton didn't even need to rely on his [Battle God] talent as his strikes cut them down before they could pose any threat.
Frustration bubbled in his chest.
He wanted the rush of a fight where every second mattered, where every swing of his weapon held his life on the line.
Instead, this was just… dull.
"Damn it." he kicked the corpse of a wolf before it dissolved into white motes.
"This isn't going to work. At this rate, I'll grow old before I level up."
He clenched his fists.
Grinding was looking like a waste of time.
He would just have to face the egg directly.
If things became too overwhelming, he could always retreat. That was the plan.
At least… that's what he told himself.
******
Following the directions in Jackal's letter, Axton eventually arrived at the western river.
The water stretched wide, its surface glimmering under the faint sunlight.
He stopped at the bank, scanning his surroundings.
The air smelled damp, earthy, and faintly metallic, as though laced with iron.
Shapes flickered in the water.
Strange, bulky figures glided beneath the surface. Axton narrowed his eyes, his hand instinctively brushing against the hilt of his weapon.
'What sort of beasts lived here?'
To test the waters, literally, he picked up a rock and hurled it into the river.
*Splurt*
Ripples spread violently, and the surface broke as creatures surged upward.
*Splash*
The first beasts to appear made Axton's jaw slacken.
They looked like turtles, but not of flesh and blood.
Their entire bodies were solid stone, their shells jagged like boulders ripped from a mountain.
Yet somehow, impossibly, they moved.
"How are they even alive?"
He shook his head.
Fantasy game. Programmers. No point in questioning it.
His system panel blinked, revealing their stats.
…
[Rock Turtles]
Grade : Common
Level : 4
Attack : 29
Defense : 25
Health : 60
Skills : Rock Shell, Turtle Charge
…
Axton sucked in a sharp breath.
Their attack was weak, but their defense… with [Rock Shell], they'd be miniature fortresses.
He instinctively stepped back, widening the gap between himself and the river.
Fighting them in water would be suicide.
That was when he heard it.
*Hisssss*
A chilling, bone-deep hiss rolled across the riverbank.
The hair on Axton's arms stood on end.
The water surged.
Rocks split apart as something massive rose above the surface.
A serpent.
Not just any serpent—a monster.
Its body was covered in the same rocky texture as the turtles, but its scales gleamed with faint green veins, pulsing like flowing magma.
Its head loomed high above, eyes shining with the hunger of a predator.
Axton's heart dropped.
"What… the… fuck?"
His throat went dry.
His entire body screamed at him to run.
The system panel appeared.
…
[Verdant Rock Serpent]
Grade : 3
Level : 10
Attack : 78
Defense : 53
Health : 200/200
Skills : Whipping Tail, Rock Shell, Poisonous Fang Attack
Note : The Verdant Rock Serpent is in the midst of evolving after swallowing a Grade 5 beast egg. Its attributes have been reduced significantly during this process.
…
"Level…?!"
The words almost slipped out.
He bit his tongue to keep silent.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
The serpent was leagues beyond the wolves.
Even weakened, its power eclipsed anything he had faced so far.
If this was its reduced state, what would it have been like at full strength?
Axton swallowed hard again, forcing himself to stay calm.
He crouched lower, hiding behind a jagged rock at the bank, and studied his target.
'So that's it. The egg… it's inside its stomach.'
Jackal's letter and the system's note matched perfectly.
The serpent had swallowed the beast egg whole, and the only way to retrieve it was to kill it.
******
Axton's brows furrowed as he watched the serpent coil, its massive body gliding back and forth in the water.
His plan seemed simple in theory.
First, corner the serpent.
Then, he would kill it.
After that he would slice its belly open.
And finally, he would take the egg.
A simple and direct plan.
But in reality?
It was suicide.
The serpent wasn't just stronger.
It had already started digesting the egg.
If he wasted too much time, even victory would be meaningless.
By then, the egg would be gone forever, absorbed completely into the monster's evolution.
That meant grinding more levels wasn't an option.
He couldn't leave and return later.
This was now or never.
Axton clenched his jaw, forcing the fear down.
'This beast had better be worth it…'
He almost laughed bitterly at himself.
Here he was, willingly stepping in front of death again.
But deep down, he knew.
If he wanted to rise above the rest, if he wanted to break past the boundaries of ordinary players, he had no choice but to take risks that others would never dare.
His hand tightened around his weapon.
His heartbeat quickened.
His eyes sharpened as he exhaled faintly.